Rats: What do you feed them?

[mykee]

And how successful have you been feeding it? Curious...

[ydnic]

I buy the pet store 'gourmet' rat food - give her some scaps, and when I bring her into the living room - I have a little container called treats which has (dog food, cat food, uncooked rice, uncooked beans, uncooked pop corn, uncooked barley, a organic granola mix, dried bananas, dried strawberries, raisins, and yougert covered raisins. )

She likes cruncy things so thats why she has the treat bowl!

[thunder]

no longer work with rats, but when i did they all ate lab-grade food made specifically for rats. i also gave treats, like apple slices, to the ones i liked.

[CamHanna]

I feed my breeders Mazuri 6F. My weanlings get Mazuri 6F plus occasional table scraps. I don't know that the scraps make a difference but the rats like them. I think I am reasonably successful. My average litter is about 14-15 and average birth weight is about 4-5 grams. I haven't recorded growth rates but I do okay.

There was a three week period in December where I ran out of rat food and co-op fed dog food. I didn't really notice a difference except that dog food was more expensive and fell through the mesh on top of my rack, then got lost in the substrate, making it even more expensive.

Cam

[Oni5000]

I feed my rats Mazuri 6F, fresh vegetable pieces and a few small dog biscuits every now and then.

[greenman1867]

Mazuri and I love it so far. I just wish they made something to make the pee smell less. Kinda like how asparagus works on us, but opposite

Actually most are not bad but the cages of all males growing into Jumbos can get pretty rank in a very short time.

[Auskan]

None of the above. I feed a diet I make up myself that consists of various cereals (Total, cheerios, rolled oats, puffed wheat & rice etc) and dog food in about 50/50 quantities. It seems to work well. The rats are healthy and produce big, healthy litters with almost no stillborns.

[Paleosuchus]

I have been using Harlan, they seem to love it. I also give the female hard boiled eggs, aswell as meat scraps once the male has bred with her and i notice a difference in wieght.

-Jason